Aviva Ignition Test

levi

Has anyone done this? Is it difficult? Are they as pernickety as in the driving test?

The best quote I got by a long shot was from Aviva so I'm gonna have to do it!

ninty9er

I passed it back in August, I'm yet to receive the refund though.

They want excellent "real world" driving. That means if the traffic is doing 60 in a 50 zone, keep up with it, but use your mirrors, have cop on, and drive as you normally should.

Fizman

Is this test relevant to all ages, or more so to younger people in terms of discounts/refunds?

levi

I think it's for people who have their licence for less than 5 years and/or less than 5 years driving on their own policy.

Also, surely they can't fail you for going 50 in a 50 zone? I would be the kinda person with the better safe than sorry mentality.

ninty9er

It's open to anyone who's passed their driving test in the last 5 years IIRC
http://www.aviva.ie/online/driving/ignition/qualify/

Cookie_Monster

I did it, made only one mistake (the tester chats to you after and this is all he said I did wrong), still only got 20% instead of whatever the max was :mad:

Just drive like in the test, both hands on the wheel and all that rubbish. Bout 20-30 mins in some ****box Mazda 2. I think using the testers car takes away from it to be honest as potentially you don't know what its like (ie SH1T). I was chatting to the bloke the whole time too, very relaxed

ninty9er

In the past it was very much "by the book" driving when operated by the Institute of Advanced Motoring, but since Aviva took it over last July, the mantra seems to be to hell with the driving as long as it's not likely to cause an accident, and cost us money.

levi

Did they fail you for that one mistake?

My plan was to drive just like in the test but I was hoping it wasn't quite as strict as the test.

Also, is it safe to assume I won't have to reverse around a corner?

Cookie_Monster

levi wrote: »

Did they fail you for that one mistake?

My plan was to drive just like in the test but I was hoping it wasn't quite as strict as the test.

Also, is it safe to assume I won't have to reverse around a corner?

no didn't fail but got less than the maximum discount.
Its just normal driving. I started in Killiney Castle hotel and drove to Blackrock and back via Dun Laoghaire.

Mistake was not to indicate as moving into lane to go straight on as driving past the bus terminal in DL. As the lane along that road become the righ hand turn and when the bus stops end you should indicate left to move inot the new, straigh ahead lane apparently.

levi

I got a quote for the car on the condition of 'passing' the Ignition test... Oh well, I'll just do my best. It's a hell of a cheap quote compared to everywhere else. No one else went near it!

plonk

I found this test pretty good and am still using some of the things they taught me. As 99er said its real world driving and how to keep yourself out of an accident using awareness

Cookie_Monster

plonk wrote: »

I found this test pretty good and am still using some of the things they taught me. As 99er said its real world driving and how to keep yourself out of an accident using awareness

they didn't teach me anything just tested
Its just an assesment rather than a learning experience

Oynas

Do you have to use the testers car or can you use your own car for the ignition test?

af_thefragile

It's worse than the driving test!

You first have to use the testers car and if you're not familiar with it, well you're in ****!
They want you to drive perfect everywhere. If the speed limit is 50 they do not want you going anywhere above the speed limit even if people behind you get pissed off and start overtaking you. I was faulted for doing 70 in a 60kmph zone when everyone else was doing over 80...

And then apparently if you don't pass, you have to wait 3 months till you can do thr test again and you'll have to pay 75eur to do the test again. Which is ridiculous.

You'ld be better off saving the hassle and finding a cheaper insurer.

Though no harm in doing the test and see how you get on...

lee_baby_simms

Is it all based on driving or are you examined on road signs, hand signals etc?

Cookie_Monster

lee_baby_simms wrote: »

Is it all based on driving or are you examined on road signs, hand signals etc?

just driving, basically to ensure you have cop on and ability rather than a rundown of the rules

ninty9er

af_thefragile wrote: »

It's worse than the driving test!

You first have to use the testers car and if you're not familiar with it, well you're in ****!
They want you to drive perfect everywhere. If the speed limit is 50 they do not want you going anywhere above the speed limit even if people behind you get pissed off and start overtaking you. I was faulted for doing 70 in a 60kmph zone when everyone else was doing over 80...

And then apparently if you don't pass, you have to wait 3 months till you can do thr test again and you'll have to pay 75eur to do the test again. Which is ridiculous.

You'ld be better off saving the hassle and finding a cheaper insurer.

Though no harm in doing the test and see how you get on...

It's completely the opposite. I did it and kept within the limit, did everything even more carefully than my driving test and failed. Did it 4 months later and passed by just driving normally. I reckon they can tell if you're "putting on" driving and if you're comfortble driving. I got a 30% discount 2nd time round after failing the first time.

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

just driving, basically to ensure you have cop on and ability rather than a rundown of the rules

Nail...head

GTE

Isnt there a silly engine size limit?

tommyx375

my mother has a car insurance policy with aviva. i want to get a policy for a 2000 1.1L peugeot 206. can i get the 6 months free car insurance by booking 10 lessons and also avail of the ignition test. i need the policy to be in my own name. thanks

L1011

bbk wrote: »

Isnt there a silly engine size limit?

1600cc.

sean1141

i done it a good few years back. had my licence a while at the time.. done it in kilkenny. if your not comfortable driving any car other than your own it might not be worth the hassle.. i found it good tbh. they cut out a lot of the crap that would get you a fail in the driving test like going down through the gears coming up to a roundabout.. say you were coming into it in 4th they dont wind if you coast coming up to it and drop back to second to take the roundabout.. not like the driving test where you cant coast and are ment to go back trough each gear....

as the lads said above its about real world driving and being aware of the dangers around you.. liked parked cars on the street pulling out in front of you, leaves on the road causing longer braking distances and stuff like that.. the tester will be asking you all sorts of questions like what dangers can you see on this street and what actions would you take.. basicly they are distracting you from driving and seeing how you handle yourself.. its easy to chat away to them but you need to be aware of whats going on around you.. this is what they are looking for.. you will fail if you start looking at them when you are chatting or forget to look in your mirrors etc!!

Irish_Girl29

Hi i was just wondering if any1 cud give me any information about this aviva ignition test. I just got insurance with them today, and heard about this test if u pass ur test within 5yrs....wat im wondering is do u actually have to do it though? Or can u just continue being insuraned with them without doing it? If any1 cud help i wud be grateful. Thanks.

**Timbuk2**

Irish_Girl29 wrote: »

Hi i was just wondering if any1 cud give me any information about this aviva ignition test. I just got insurance with them today, and heard about this test if u pass ur test within 5yrs....wat im wondering is do u actually have to do it though? Or can u just continue being insuraned with them without doing it? If any1 cud help i wud be grateful. Thanks.

You don't have to do it. It's just an 'extra' that got potentially give you between 20-40% discount on your insurance if you pass. It's free though, if you ever consider doing it. But you can just carry on being insured without doing this.

**Timbuk2**

Sorry for the double post -

I passed the Ignition test today, with a 20% discount, but in reading the results e-mail, it appears the 20% discount only applies to "your own personal motor private insurance policy."

But I don't have a car! I am a named driver on my mother's policy (with Aviva), and I thought that the discount would apply for that as well. To further complicate matters, the current policy spans up to the start of December, so I don't know whether the discount can be applied until it is renewed then.

Have I screwed up a bit here? This line of the e-mail
"If you are not currently a Aviva policyholder but wish to take out a new motor private Insurace policy and avail of the 20% discount, you can do so by contacting your Broker/Aviva Branch within 3 months of successfully completing the training course."
seems to imply that it only is good for 3 months. I can't repeat the assessment as far as I know. Have I shot myself in the foot?

I'll try ringing them some day this week.

Redisle

Are you planning on getting your own car/a policy in your own name? If so you could just have your mother remove you from hers and get your own policy. She would get back any money she previously paid to insure you.

**Timbuk2**

Thanks for the answer!

Sadly, I'm not planning to get my own car (and consequently, my own policy) in the near future. I should have stated in the above post, I'm an 18 year old male so having my own policy on the car would work out more expensive, even with the applied discount (although it has the added benefit of allowing me to accumulate NCB). But besides that, I don't think one car can have two policies. She is the main driver of the car, not me.

**Timbuk2**

Sorry again for the double post - I can't edit this into my last one as I wrote it too long ago.

I went into the Aviva office, and it turns out that as a named driver, the 20% discount doesn't apply to me. A bit of a kick in the face really - I was sure it would, as a named driver premium still is based on risk level, and surely passing the Ignition would prove I have a slightly less risk? Maybe it's just something to attract people towards Aviva?

She said she applied it to the policy anyway, but the system kept the premium the same, confirming what she said about it not applying to named drivers (although she said she will look into it). I was told that it's now 'recorded in the system' that I have it passed if I ever do get my own policy, but I'm not sure how long that is 'valid' for - she reckons it will be there indefinitely, although I don't think that's right either.

moncai

Hey i'm just about to sit this test on wednesday... there seems to be two consensus' here about sticking to the speed limit or matching the traffic speed in your driving, can anyone clarify this for me? I don't want to fail because i went 5 miles over the speed limit in a 50 zone just to match the drivers around me...

Also is it true that first you drive, then they drive and tell you what you did wrong, and then you drive again and are expected to show them that you picked up on what they said??

Cheers

I did this years ago, back in 2004 I'd say, I was on shift work so had lots of time on my hands. I found it quite good, was an advanced driver who did it with me, it sounds like it's a different kettle of fish these days though.

biko

They don't fail you per se, as long as you don't feck up majorly you'll be grand.
If in doubt, stick to speed limit and let others overtake if they're in a hurry.

stryker mcqueen

Doing this tommorrow , actually more nervous than my driving test because i dontt know what to expecy haha .....

Are the results graded as pass , merit & distinction ??

Vitamin T

I did it about a month ago and managed to get a 30% discount handy enough. It was basically just an hour of driving with the tester/driving instructor taking down notes of what you're doing well and what you're doing badly.

At the end, the tester went through the list of faults that I made. I thought he was quite picky. One of my main faults was at the very end of the test when he asked me to reverse park in an almost empty carpark. He said my observation wasn't good enough, he wanted me to look around about 10 times as I would in my actual driving test!

The other two faults he marked me down on were:
1) Not changing up to 5th gear when driving at 80km/h
2) Not changing down all the gears when coming to a stop at lights

Overall, it wasn't too stressful at all and like I said I got 30% off my insurance in the end so was well worth it!

CMpunked

Just passed my test today and was going to go with aviva, they seem to be the cheapest for the likes of me who has only just passed.
The others seem to slaughter you altogether.

Is the tes conducted like a driving test in the sense of following a route par sé or more just loose like giving you a place to get to, or staying on the same road most of the time?

Also, should i buy my insurance beforehand or will i get them to give me this test first?

USER X

Ive been driving for 4 years now and have not so much as touched off a person, animal or another vehicle on the road and have not put a single scratch on my car. I drove commercially for a year for a company I was working for which as I said was without incident.

I decided to take the Aviva Ignition test as it would lower my premium further. Maybe it was just the tester I was lucky enough to get or im just a bad driver but we were driving along and he has a secondary set of pedals. I think he was using his mobile or writing notes on his pad and not paying attention, then looks up realises where we are and decides to jump on the brakes telling me to turn left. So I brought the car down a few gears and took the immediate left turn (thanks for the notice!). He apologised acknowledging it was his fault but it still should not have happened.

After the test was over he was telling me what I did wrong and said that although I did not exceed the speed limit and the lights had not changed from green, I accelerated as I was going through a junction. So I was slow on approach as per the advice of the rules of the road and accelerated away from the junction without breaking the speed limit and not accelerating to avoid an amber/red light. He also said that I did not check my mirror enough when making a left turn even though I had changed my road position to make the turn, indicated the intention to turn and checked mirrors a number of times before indicating and before making the turn. I think this might be similar to the problem motorcyclists face on the bike test where they can move their eyes to look at the mirror and it is not obvious to the tester behind that they have actually looked at the mirror, so to avoid this they move their head towards the mirror. If I do waste more time with this test, I think I will give audible advice as to my actions and hazards/signs noticed ahead.
I also asked about speed limits before setting off saying that while speed limits are there, in reality people dont always abide by them and I know that other drivers can get a bit annoyed at someone for driving at 50 KPH. I then asked if I am keeping pace with traffic should I still ensure that I abide by the speed limit and allow other drivers to overtake if they wish? I got a very political answer of please drive as you usually would on a daily basis so I decided to keep it within the limits :rolleyes:

alanmc

Damn, I've been driving for nearly 15 years now. I think if I took this test, my premium would double.

And like the previous poster, I've no history of any accidents (hoping this isn't the kiss of death).

For my bike test, I was told to sing a song and bob my head along to it. Makes you look like you're checking your mirrors every few seconds. I was also told that when I rounded a corner, to lose the examiner (following in a car). If he can't see me, he can't fail me. It was at that point I realised that even the instructors knew that it was more about passing the test than driving correctly.

Daniel18

I just did the test today and it isn't as bad as the driving test.
I made a stupid mistake with a roundabout where I went into the wrong lane because I got nervous and was confused and he said after that I wouldn't fail for that because I was looking to the left and knew what was going on on the roundabout. If that was a driving test I would have failed he said.
It's all about risk awareness. They just want to know that you aren't going to cost them money. So just drive confidently and safely like you would in a driving test anyway and you'll be fine.
I know I was worried about it too and was looking through this thread and didn't know what to believe, but it's not as "pernickety" as the driving test as you'll see from my example. Good luck to anyone doing it, it's well worth doing it either way.
By the way I passed it.